The Rosicrucian Method of Caring for the Dead

During life in the physical world, the human Ego works through its four
vehicles: namely, the physical, vital, desire, and mental bodies, all of which
are connected to one another by the silver cord. At night the Ego withdraws
into the inner worlds taking with it the mental and desire bodies, leaving the physical body
together with the vital body, lying on the bed. The Ego first brings about harmonious rhythm of
the mind and desire bodies. These bodies work upon the vital body; the vital
body then commences to restore the tired and worn out physical atoms to health
and vitality.

This restoration can only be done during the time the desire body and mind
are removed, for it is their activities which use up the physical energy
during the day, and in order that the vital body may be freed to rebuild this
exhausted physical vehicle, the Ego and the two higher vehicles (the desire
and mental bodies) separate from the two lower vehicles, but remain tied by
the silver cord. At death, when the physical body can no longer hold on to its
higher vehicles, when disintegration must ensue, the Ego is forced to vacate
its house, made of clay, which it has built and used for an allotted length of
time, and in which it has learned many helpful and soul-building lessons. It
has now reached a period on the path of evolution where the Ego must take time
for the assimilation of the lessons which were learned while functioning in
the world of matter. Death is to the soul what sleep is to the physical body:
a time of rest and recuperation so that the spirit may draw from these
experiences greater soul power.

At death, the Ego leaves the physical body by way of the parietal-occipital
sutures, but instead of the vital body remaining with the physical body as is
the case during sleep, it also leaves the physical body, together with the
desire and mental bodies, for the spirit's work in the physical body is
finished for this Earth life. The vital body has now a different work to do;
it is no longer called upon to keep the physical atoms in health.

At death, the vital, desire, and mental bodies are seen to leave the
physical body through the head. The spirit, which is leaving its earthly
prison house to decay, takes with it its most cherished belonging, the seed
atom, the only part of the physical which cannot die and which it brings back
with it at each Earth life. During Earth life, there is a tiny atom in the
apex of the left ventricle of the heart which is called the permanent seed
atom. This seed atom of the physical vehicle has been used as a nucleus for a
physical body ever since the spirit possessed a physical vehicle. When we
speak of a permanent seed atom, we do not mean that the physical atom is used,
but the forces which flow through it. These forces remain with the Ego through
rebirth after rebirth, or until this particular spirit has finished its
evolution in the physical world. Then these forces will be transferred to the
seed atom of the vital body which will become the permanent seed atom of the
next period.

Going back to our discussion of the Ego as it leaves its physical body at
what is termed death, we find that the spirit is passing through a very vital
and extremely important period. Friends and relatives should be most careful
that their loved one is left free from excitement, grief, and disturbances of
any kind: the body should not be mutilated and embalming fluids should not be
used until 84 hours after the spirit has ceased functioning in the body. The
reason for this is as follows:

At death there is a rupturing of the silver cord which the Bible speaks of
in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes. This cord holds the higher and lower
vehicles together and, at death, the rupture takes place in the heart, which
causes this organ to cease beating. When this occurs, the Ego with its three
bodies, namely, the vital, desire, and mental bodies, is seen by the
clairvoyant floating above the head of the physical body for three and one-
half days. During this period, the spirit is engaged in reviewing the scenes
of its past life which have been impressed on the permanent seed atom in the
heart. These impressions have been left on this seed atom by the blood. We are
also taught from the Bible that the spirit is in the blood. The blood is the
direct vehicle of the spirit.

The heart and lungs are the only organs through which all the blood in man's
body passes in every cycle and the heart is the stronghold of the human Ego.
As the blood courses through the heart, the scenes of every passing moment are
carried in the blood and engraved on the tiny seed atom. This seed atom is
also impregnated with the experiences of all past lives, and from it many
impressions come to man. These teach him the difference between good and evil,
and thus they become his conscience.

Now the reason we hold it is necessary that quietness reign in the house of
death is as follows: The vital body is the vehicle used immediately after
death to transfer the impressions of the seed atom in the heart to the seed
atom of the desire body. During this work the silver cord is ruptured, but not
broken. The Ego is still conscious of its vehicles, feeling and suffering to
some extent, when the body is mutilated. When the spirit is disturbed during
the transfer, the impressions are dimly etched, and the spirit in returning to
rebirth in the next embodiment does not bring with it as keen a sense of
conscience as it would have done if the etching had been clear-cut, because in
the Desire World it was not able to feel remorse for wrong doings nor joy over
good actions as keenly as it would have if it had not been disturbed.

When the panorama has been fully etched into the desire body, the silver
cord breaks and the Ego is free of its earthly house. The body should then be
cremated since cremation frees the spirit quickly. It also offers a more
sanitary method of body disposal.

Let us hope that humanity will soon be awake to the proper care of its dead,
and that we will have a science of death as well as a science of birth. It is
important that the person who is aware of the damage ensuing from improper
handling of the body in the event of death should have in writing the
instructions he or she desires to have carried out for him- or herself.

A form is available, explaining the Rosicrucian methods for the care of the
body immediately following death. It gives the procedure which the follower of
the Western Wisdom Teachings accepts as necessary for the proper transition to
the afterlife.